


Resurrection

by kyrdwyn



Series: Beloved [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death, Dark, Dubious Comic Book Science, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-10
Updated: 2013-12-10
Packaged: 2018-01-04 06:00:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1077413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyrdwyn/pseuds/kyrdwyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How far will Bruce go to keep the man he loves?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Resurrection

**Author's Note:**

> Set before "Beloved" and "Mourning"

Blood dripped from his blade to pool on the floor. He watched as it was joined by the steady flow of blood from his own injuries and the sluggish flow from the disembodied head on the floor. Ra's al Ghul's sightless eyes were turned toward the bodies of his ninjas, and Batman kicked at the head, sending it to join the body.

Ignoring his own wounds, Batman turned to the body bag in the corner. Inside the bag was the entire reason for the carnage that surrounded him, the scores of ninja and the body of Ra's al Ghul, all dead around the roiling green liquid known as the Lazarus Pit. The basis of Ra's al Ghul's immortality, it was said to not only extend life, but bring back the dead.

And Batman needed it to bring back the dead.

Dripping the sword to the ground with a clatter, Batman stumbled over to the body bag. He pushed back his cowl before unzipping the bag.

Robin's, Dick Grayson's, face was revealed, peaceful in its death repose. The body had barely begun to decay. Batman had placed it into a frozen state as soon as possible after Dick's death, the glimmer of a plan already in his mind. Alfred hadn't approved, but Batman had managed to convince him that ensuring Dick's body couldn't be disturbed after death, especially so that Ra's al Ghul couldn't try to resurrect Dick and use him against them, was the right course of action.

He didn't tell Alfred that he intended to try to raise Dick from the dead himself. Even if it meant killing Ra's al Ghul. Even if it meant breaking the vow he'd made to his parents, that night long ago. He'd sworn he would never kill, but for Dick, for the light of his life, his love, the only person that made being Batman bearable…he would.

He leaned in and placed a kiss to the still chilled lips of his love. Since that first night, after the tragic murder of Dick’s parents at Haly's circus, when Bruce Wayne had brought home an orphaned acrobat, Dick had been the light that was missing from Batman's, from Bruce's, life since that fateful night all those years ago.

If things had stayed that way, Bruce might not be here, contemplating what he was. But Dick had gotten more precious to Bruce as the years went on, until he couldn't live without Dick. Bruce had resented the Teen Titans for taking Dick from him, fearing that Dick would one day give up being Batman's protégé and join the Titans full time.

Then, three weeks after Dick's eighteenth birthday, after a long night patrolling, Dick had slipped into Bruce's bed and kissed the older man. Bruce had tried, oh he had tried, to push Dick away. But the younger man had been unmovable, swearing his love for Bruce. And Bruce had eventually found himself unable to keep up his good intentions and had taken the younger man with passion that had been returned whole heartedly.

That had been the first night they'd slept in the same bed, but not the last. Not unless Dick was with the Teen Titans. Sure, they couldn't be open in their relationship, not with Dick being Bruce's former ward, but in the manor, with Alfred's approval, they had been as affectionate as they could be.

But those three years of bliss, of Batman and Robin by night, Bruce and Dick behind closed doors of the manor, and their facade in public, couldn’t last. The Joker had taken Dick, and before Bruce could get his lover back, killed him. Bruce had seen the building the madman had stashed Dick in, had been within feet of it when it had blown. He'd been caught in the blast himself, injured and mourning Dick, when the Joker had reappeared, taunting Bruce with the hope of a still-alive Dick. But when Bruce had arrived at the Joker's hideout, Dick had been dying from the beating the Joker had administered. Bruce hadn't even been able to move him, and Dick had died in his arms.

That's when the idea had been born, sitting on the floor of the warehouse, the light of his life extinguished, unsure how he was going to survive. The sound of dripping water somewhere in the warehouse had brought to mind the Lazarus Pits of Ra's al Ghul, and everything he had learned about it. And the idea had been born.

The Joker, though, had intruded on the moment, and Bruce's vision had gone red. Before he knew it, he was standing over the mutilated body corpse of the Joker, hands dripping with the clown's blood. He should have been appalled at himself, should have been should have turned himself into Gordon for the Joker's murder. He'd betrayed everything that he'd stood for. Betrayed it all for Dick.

He had no regrets.

Which brought him back here, in Ra's al Ghul's lair, the Demon's Head a literal thing, lying next to the body.

"Dick, my love, my light, my life," Bruce murmured as he unzipped the bag completely and lifted out the naked body of his partner. His injuries screamed at him as he carried Dick toward the Pit. He paused at the edge, then began walking in, feeling the warm green liquid envelopes his feet, calves, knees, and go partway up his thighs. Whispers sounded in the back of his head, but he pushed them away, concentrating on Dick, on the memories of the boy in his life. Dick as he'd first seen him, flying through the air with a smile on his face. Dick on his first night as Robin, during their first argument as partners, and the night that Dick had crawled into his bed and broken through the final piece of ice that encased Bruce's heart. Then he remembered holding Dick in that warehouse, watching the light go out of those blue eyes that Bruce had let himself drown in so many times.

The thought of living without his boy, his love, steeled Bruce's resolve and he stepped further into the Pit, sinking down so the waters covered him to his shoulders, and covered Dick's body completely. He closed his eyes and thought of Dick at his most loving, most vibrant, most alive, and let the waters of the Pit do the rest.

* * *

A mouth closed over his, hard and demanding. Bruce opened his eyes to see Dick staring back at him, a manic smile on his face. Bruce felt and answering manic smile cross his own.

"Dick."

"Bruce. You brought me back."

"I couldn't live without you." He pulled Dick to him, kissing his lover, devouring the mouth he'd never thought he'd get to kiss again. Dick returned the kiss enthusiastically, pushing Bruce against the wall of the Pit, the violent green liquid frothing around them, between them until they were skin to skin, pressing against each other, fingers gripping hard, nails drawing blood that disappeared into the Pit, the cuts healing over as the waters of the Pit splashed against them.

Bruce forced Dick across the Pit, pushing his back to the wall. He pulled Dick closer to him, their erections pressing against each other, hotter in the Pit that he recalled. He tore his mouth away from the kiss and moved down to Dick's neck, sucking bruising kisses on the skin, biting at the neck until he tasted the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, _Dick's_ life blood in his mouth, the life that Bruce had refused to relinquish until he had relinquished his own breath, his own life.

Dick’s fingers dug into Bruce’s buttocks, pulling him close, thrusting against him and chanting his name in breathy moans that only drove Bruce faster. Bruce panted against Dick's neck, their coupling hot and furious and primal. They needed each other, needed the closeness, the reminder of their love, of the only other living person that understood them.

Bruce broke first, all these weeks of loss and grief disappearing in one loud shout that echoed off the walls of the cave as he came against Dick's skin, the waters of the Pit carrying away his essence. Dick followed him over the edge a few minutes later, groaning Bruce's name as he shuddered his completion.

Bruce slumped against Dick, panting against his lover's neck. "I can't lose you," he said into the bruised skin. "I can't lose you. Not again. Not ever again, Dick."

"You won't, I swear, you won't." Dick nuzzled against Bruce’s hair. "I can't lose you either."

They stayed there for a long time, the Pit glowing around them. They nuzzled at each other, murmuring sounds instead of words. Bruce didn't know how long they had been there when Dick drew in a shaky breath and leaned back from Bruce, staring across the cave.

"Bruce. You killed Ra's." His voice reflected his disbelief.

"I killed the Joker. I would kill more to keep you safe, my love. I am nothing without you. Batman is nothing without his Robin. Gotham would have suffered for your loss."

Dick leaned in and nuzzled at Bruce's neck. "But your morals." 

"I need you to keep me on them." But could he go back now? The world was safer, Gotham was safer with both the Joker and Ra's al Ghul gone. Talia was never the threat her father was, and how much better off would Gotham be if other villains, those that Arkham and Blackgate could never hold, were permanently out of the picture?

"You're plotting something.” Dick singsonged. His eyes were fever bright, sparkling. Bruce could feel Dick's excitement for Bruce's plan, and he didn't even know what it was yet.

"The Joker and Ra's al Ghul are dead. That makes Gotham safer. We could continue that plan." Make Gotham the city she should be. Where no other little boy would have to fear the gun in the night, kneel by his parents cooling bodies. No other boy would have to stand on the top of a pole and watch his parents fall to their deaths for someone else's greed. 

Dick frowned. "Gordon would never go for it. Neither would Mayor Hill." He looked past Bruce's shoulder, eyebrows pulled into a frown. Bruce didn't resist the urge to lean in and press a kiss the furrowed skin. Dick gave him a look and kissed Bruce’s nose. "I might have an idea."

"Oh?"

"Bruce Wayne is a playboy, but he's been known to throw money at politics from time to time. What if he decides that Mayor Hill isn't what is best for the city, and throws his hat in the ring? From that point, he can decide if Batman is a menace, not right away, but over time. And if Gordon gets in the way, well, there are ways to force people to retire, and people we can bring in who wouldn't mind having the major villains of the city become highly convenient corpses."

Bruce reached up, green liquid dripping from his hand as he pushed a damp lock of hair away from Dick's face. "You've got this plotted out."

"I'd been thinking about it on and off, to legitimate Batman and Robin at some point, if public opinion turned against us. It just needs to be tweaked." He looked at Bruce, biting his lip. Bruce leaned in and licked at the bite, drawing a noise from Dick. "Bruce, stop that. I... this is going to come out wrong."

Bruce frowned. "What is it?"

Dick leaned his forehead against Bruce's. "I think... I don't think I want to be known as Robin, anymore. I don't feel like a Robin, not now. I want to be your partner, but Robin belongs to someone younger, someone with the Teen Titans. I can't go back to them, now, not with the thoughts in my head, not with this plan."

Bruce caught his breath. "Dick..." No, I can't leave him, he can't leave me, and I can't lose him not now ever

"Batman's partner needs a new name, to fit our new plan," Dick said, nuzzling at Bruce. "Robin is too light-hearted. This new Batman doesn't need a light-hearted partner. He needs someone else."

"What does he need?"

"A Raptor."

A bird of prey, a hunter. Bruce smiled at Dick, a dark smile that Dick echoed. "Batman and Raptor. Gotham's new protectors," he growled, pushing Dick back into the wall. His lover smiled at him and drew him closer.

"I want Two-Face," Raptor growled back at him, darker than Robin. Batman leaned in and bit at Raptor's jaw. 

"Anything for my love," he said. "Anything for my hunter."


End file.
